With a little help from The Conservation Volunteers, residents of Cairn Housing Association are being given the opportunity to sow herbs and other plants in newly installed raised beds. TCV’s input is co-ordinated by Anna Mayo who says:
Our first project was at Cairn’s Devlin Court sheltered housing complex in Stirling, where our local volunteer group built a high raised bed as a herb garden so that all of the residents could have access to the herbs without having to bend down. The garden was planted-up with everyone’s favourite culinary herbs including parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, mint, coriander and chives. We also included some more unusual herbs to experiment with, such as lemon verbena, caraway and winter savory which were received with excitement and curiosity by all.
The residents at Devlin Court were also joined by Claire Mullan, a medical herbalist from Creiff, who ran a workshop on how to use some of the herbs medicinally as teas, oils and vinegars to treat ailments like coughs and colds, insect bites and sunburn. Mid September saw us all outdoors again having a BBQ party for the residents, friends and family of Devlin Court to celebrate their new herb garden. In the coming spring we will sow seeds for more annual herbs and flowers including basil, coriander and marigold. In the meantime I’ll be working with the residents on other craft and nature activities such as making ladybird boxes for the garden.
The Devlin Court project has been followed by the installation of another herb garden in a raised bed for more Cairn residents at Royal Scot Court in Bathgate and we’re currently helping to create a sensory garden for another Cairn property, Jubilee House care home, in Edinburgh. The raised beds for the sensory garden will again be built by TCV’s local volunteer group. We hope all of the raised beds will give pleasure to the Cairn residents for many years to come.
I’d like to give a huge thank you to the Cairn Community Fund which has funded these projects.